1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manual processing of certain crustacea, namely crawfish or crayfish. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for peeling crustacea such as crawfish or crayfish, wherein an inclined post provides a specially shaped upper end portion that has opposed curved flanges of varying size with a slot therebetween, and wherein a ramp positioned below the slot ejects the meat portion of the crawfish of crayfish tail when the tail is threaded upon the post and manually pulled in a downwardly direction.
2. General Background of the Invention
Certain crustacea such as crawfish or crayfish are manually processed by removing the edible meat portion from the tail of the cooked body. Manually peeling such food items can be a time consuming and frustrating task.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a peeling device that enables a user to manually and quickly separate the meat portion of the tail from the outer hard shell or skeleton.
The following U.S. patents disclose various devices for peeling crustacea:
TABLEPATENT NO.TITLEISSUE DATE2,692,428Orange PeelerOct. 26, 1954Des. 253,219Orange PeelerOct. 23, 19794,133,078Bivalve OpenerJan. 9, 19794,553,287Device and Process for CleaningNov. 19, 1985Shrimp and the like4,610,052Shellfish Opening ToolSep. 9, 19864,787,123Oyster Shucking DeviceNov. 29, 1988Des. 313,923Clam and Oyster KnifeJan. 22, 19915,403,230Shellfish Claw CutterApr. 4, 19955,586,931Hand Operated Crab LegDec. 24, 19965,830,049Method and Apparatus for AssistingNov. 3, 1998in Crab Picking6,036,596Apparatus and Method for RemovingMar. 14, 2000Meat from a Crawfish TailJP2000107004Apr. 18, 2000